County-Owned Property Committee should know the budget process

LOIS RASNAKE
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Feb 7, 2014 at 9:11 AM

Regarding the Jan. 28 article concerning the County-Owned Property Committee:I know when all committees meet. I get my information from the Press on Mondays, or I look at the Washington County website. I’m assuming the members of the County-Owned Property Committee could do the same and attend meetings without an invitation from the county mayor. I attend a lot of Budget Committee and County Commission meetings because I want to be informed. I would expect commissioners would want and we should expect them to be informed.County Commissioner Phyllis Corso (the chairwoman of the County-Owned Property Committee) never fails to bring up at a Commission meeting the term “transparency” in county government as it refers to the county mayor. I would definitely like to see transparency from the County-Owned Property Committee when a request for funds goes from the allocated $40,000 to complete the second floor of the Jonesborough Courthouse to $150,000. This comes after much of the material has already been ordered, delivered and paid for. There has been no representative from this committee at two Budget Committee meetings.Perhaps the County-Owned Property Committee doesn’t understand the budget process. It seems they think $150,000 doesn’t need any justification. As citizens of Washington County, we should expect our commissioners to be fiscally responsible with our dollars. One way to conserve would be to go from 25 commissioners to 11. That alone would go a long way in cutting expenditures. LOIS RASNAKEJohnson City